The Curator’s Journal by Bonsai Curator Arthur Joura offers the ultimate insider’s view of bonsai at The North Carolina Arboretum. Regular entries chronicle growing an art and growing an enterprise. Some journal entries will be long and others more brief; some will be mostly words and others mostly pictures; some will be close-up studies of detail and others will step back to take in the wider scene.

The path will not be linear, but all the entries will be steps on a journey. You’re invited to come along.

Preview the latest entries and resources offered below. With Joura as a knowledgeable guide, you can forgo the map and travel in time to meet remarkable trees, each with stories and life lessons worth sharing.

REcent Journal Entries

Featured
Think of a Tree - Part 2, On the Nature of Pets
Think of a Tree - Part 2, On the Nature of Pets

Once we identify with something we tend to personalize it. Once we personalize something we grant it status as a unique entity, one of many, but separate and worthy of its own recognition in the greater scheme of life.

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Spring Display 2025
Spring Display 2025

In the bonsai world, shows happen all the time. That highly reactive interface between human beings, with their individual natures, and little designed trees, each with its own character, can be found at any bonsai show. Our show is different, though. Most bonsai shows last for a few days or maybe a week at the most, while the show in the Arboretum's bonsai garden runs for more than half a year.

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Think of a Tree - Part 1
Think of a Tree - Part 1

It was not until almost thirty years later that I identified that tree, from memory. So clear was my recollection of time spent up in that tree's boughs that I could distinctly recall the look of its bark, the shape of its leaves, the form of its structure. Once I started working at the Arboretum and learned something about plant science, these memories were enough for me to know the tree's botanical identity. 

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Three Little Trees and One Big Squeeze
Three Little Trees and One Big Squeeze

The bonsai garden is a premier attraction for the Arboretum, so having that attraction back online after a five month winter hiatus is a big deal. For me, World Bonsai Day is a deadline that can’t be missed. All those wonderful little trees and landscapes don’t get dressed up and lined out on the display benches by themselves — it’s a lot of work!

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Long Tall Flat Top Baldy
Long Tall Flat Top Baldy

Visitors to the Expo were encouraged to vote for their favorite bonsai and in 2013 John’s baldcypress won hands down. Small wonder — the specimen is big and obviously old, and to see such a tree growing in a container defies belief for the average person.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Featured
World Bonsai Day & the Return of the Little Trees
World Bonsai Day & the Return of the Little Trees

MAY 11-12, 2024

The return of the bonsai and landscapes to the display shelves in the garden each spring is always cause for celebration! The date is chosen in recognition of World Bonsai Day, a worldwide celebration honoring the art of bonsai as an expression of peace and harmony in nature. Members of the Blue Ridge Bonsai Society will be on hand to demonstrate techniques and answer questions.

Beginning Bonsai
Beginning Bonsai

SATURDAY, MAY 17, 9:30AM -4:30PM

The living art of bonsai is practiced and enjoyed all over the world! This popular class covers basic concepts and hands-on skill building for novices to begin growing and shaping their own miniature trees. Instructor Rebecca Ayres has spent sixteen years assisting the curator with the Arboretum’s collection and is a knowledgeable and patient teacher.

The Bonsai Exhibition Garden in Spring: Curator’s Talk & Tour with Arthur Joura
The Bonsai Exhibition Garden in Spring: Curator’s Talk & Tour with Arthur Joura

TUESDAY, MAY 13, 5:30 - 7:30 PM

Join this after-hours tour of the garden with Bonsai Curator Arthur Joura for a personal and informative overview of the art of bonsai and the Arboretum's own creative approach to it. Foliage is at its freshest at this time of year, and flowers will likely be blooming in the garden landscape and on select bonsai.

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Recommended viewing

Featured
The American Elm
The American Elm

From a simple seed grows a mighty tree — and a great new video by Ben Kirkland, content creator of the popular YouTube channel Appalachian Bonsai. He documents Arthur Joura in the 2019 styling demonstration that was the making of The American Elm.

A Radical Redesign: Tanuki
A Radical Redesign: Tanuki

Life, death, rebirth. Bonsai curator Arthur Joura undertakes an unusual and challenging redesign of an old juniper bonsai from the Arboretum's collection. The work was recorded live and edited by Visiting Artist Ben Kirkland, creator of the YouTube channel Appalachian Bonsai.

Creating a Tray Landscape
Creating a Tray Landscape

In Creating a Tray Landscape, Arboretum Bonsai Curator Arthur Joura creates a new planting featuring a lone weathered hornbeam and woody shrubs assembled with sculptural rocks on a natural stone slab. It makes for a scene evocative of the craggy Southern Appalachian highlands.

Repotting the River of Dreams
Repotting the River of Dreams

An iconic tray landscape — The River of Dreams — is de-constructed and its individual elements are reassembled to create a new composition, which is then replanted into a new and larger American-made container.

Out of the Box
Out of the Box

This second video of the series, "Out of the Box," shows what happens in several years when a bonsai-in-training is ready to take another significant step toward becoming a presentable piece.

A SMALL Sampling OF Bonsai IN THE Arboretum’s COLLECTION

Captions may not be supported when viewing on a mobile device. Find a list of the bonsai currently on display here.

“We use bonsai as an interpretive tool to help excite people about nature, to help engage them, to make their visit to the Arboretum special... That focus exclusively on the natural aspect, that’s what sets us apart. Here, bonsai is a way for people to see nature differently. ”
— Arthur Joura